A war for BiH can be won without a rifle, Dodik is selling RS

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Finally, with the clear interest of Elektroprivreda BiH in recapitalizing HET on Trebišnjica from FBiH, a real response has arrived to the policy of SNSD president Milorad Dodik. True, it took a person from RS - the vice-president of SDP, Vojin Mijatović, to outline this for the authorities in FBiH, but that is not so important now.

- Serbia is buying shares of the Trebišnjica Hydroelectric Power Plant, the Government of FBiH, which boasts millions in its accounts, could have bought these shares and proven its patriotism. This way, right under our noses, Vučić is legally, legitimately buying BiH, and you just keep talking about war! Dodik doesn't care, all that matters to him is the cash! - Mijatović wrote via social networks, after which the Prime Minister of the FBiH Government and Elektroprivreda BiH reacted.

Mijatović is right when he says that buying HET shares is "the biggest patriotic test for all of us". The RS authorities will probably not allow FBiH to buy HET shares, but EP BiH's offer would certainly disrupt their plans and cause them headaches, as well as neighboring Serbia, which wants to privatize EP RS through the back door and take control of BiH's hydropower potential.

Instead of rattling weapons and building up the muscles of the poor with patriotic calls for mobilization, the war against Milorad Dodik's secessionism should have long ago been shifted to the economic sphere. If there had been the will, honesty, knowledge, and state patriotism, the Federation of BiH could have "bought" peace and stability in BiH instead of tacitly allowing Dodik to sell off the country until now.

A policy truly committed to fighting for a unified state should have first challenged the issuance of RS bonds, demanding a clear statement of what serves as collateral for them. Thomas Waitz from the Austrian Green Party and a member of the European Parliament spoke about this a month ago, rightly questioning the legality of Dodik's moves.

- In the case of the Republic of Srpska state bonds, the question arises whether the 'securities' were legally valid at all. And that could then lead to those who bought state bonds - possibly including certain European or even Austrian banks, pension funds, or international donors - suing the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, demanding that it 'settle their claims' from its assets, Waitz stated.

From this, it is clear that Dodik's fight for the transfer of state property to the entities has nothing to do with the well-being of the citizens of RS. Life is getting harder for them every day, and Dodik is only saving himself and the tycoons with whom he is "selling the future" in RS.

If SDA president Bakir Izetbegović and his "brothers" in BiH and the world truly loved BiH, funds could have been secured to buy RS bonds, whose buyers are currently hiding from the public. The problem is that the SDA was not interested in RS until BiH, in partnership with SNSD, brought it to the brink of a new war. The best evidence for this is the criminalization of Annex 7, for the implementation of which billions of marks were spent, from which returnees objectively benefited the least.

If the SDA wanted to build the state, it would not have allowed those expelled from RS to sell their property, because the battle for land is the battle for BiH. Moreover, RS has sold almost everything valuable in that entity, and only "Dodik's friends" have been buying.

To return to the HET story at the end. It is not only political, but also economically justified, as FBiH and the state could become dependent on buying electricity in the coming years, instead of being exporters. Even a layman understands the danger, and we do not lack potential, only will, wisdom, and sincere intentions. Everyone in RS with a shred of common sense knows that the sale of HET brings the least benefit to the citizens. There is no better evidence of this than the Brod Refinery, Alumina, never completed small hydropower plants, and others.